Under The Stars
by Hawk-D
Summary: Begins during HSM 2. In the garden of Gabriella Montez, Chad Danforth comforts her under the stars with a pitcher of Margaritas. A kiss, one simple kiss throws Chad's world out of sync as he forces himself to answer the question, who does he really want?


_Reason often makes mistakes, but conscience never does. _

_Josh Billings_

_Under the Stars_

How Chad Danforth had ended up drinking margaritas in Gabriella Montez's garden was purely coincidental. He hadn't even meant to be there. Instead, he had planned to meet up with Zeke and hang out round Jason's house and re-watch the Die Hard trilogy. Unfortunately, while he was on his way, he got a phone call from Taylor. She told him that Gabriella had quit her job and had a fight with Troy and as she was working late that night, she wanted him to check if she was okay. Not wanting to incur the wrath of Taylor McKessie, he quickly changed direction and headed to her house.

Still, how checking up on her had turned into the both of them consuming large amounts of alcohol was still a blur, Chad wasn't entirely sure that he cared. All he knew was that at that precise moment, he was having fun, probably more fun than he would have had with Zeke and Jason. It was strange though, he and Gabriella had never been close, in fact, if he was honest, he didn't like her when she first turned up at East High. At that time, Chad just assumed she was the pretty face that was distracting the team's star player before the Championship game. After spending more time with her, he found out that she was a likeable person.

Even then, she had always been Troy's girlfriend and Taylor's friend before she was his friend.

It was about ten o'clock and the moon hung high in the sky. Both Chad and Gabriella lay in the grass, staring up at the many stars. In-between them lay an empty pitcher, which only twenty minutes ago had been filled with the mixture of tequila, triple sec and lemon juice.

"You actually cried during King Kong?" Gabriella asked, her eyes dancing in amusement.

Chad snorted. Like many things tonight, he wasn't exactly sure how that had come up. He hadn't told anyone about something that embarrassing, not even Troy.

Oh, that's why.

He was doing whatever he could to keep the topic off his former best friend. He wasn't brilliant at the whole, _comforting_, thing, so instead he was trying to cheer her up. Still, he didn't know how King Kong came into the conversation. Large quantities of alcohol in a short period of time did that to you.

"You can't tell anyone about that," he said, "That would completely destroy my rep."

"What's wrong with that?" Gabriella asked, "It would make you seem more…sensitive."

Chad laughed, "I am not sensitive."

Gabriella turned and faced him, still smiling, "What's wrong with being a little sensitive?" she asked softly.

As Chad glanced at her, he saw the light from the moon bounce off her. She was gorgeous. He knew she was pretty, everyone knew that by glancing at her, but he had never really _looked_ at her before. He never really took the time to truly assess her, to memorise her facial features, her beautiful brown eyes…

_God, he was so drunk. _

_At least he hoped he was…_

"What's right with being sensitive," Chad scoffed, "I'm too manly to be sensitive."

Gabriella was still staring at him, but she was no longer smiling, instead she seemed to be staring through him, as if she was trying to look beyond the large hair and witty t-shirts to see who he truly was. Apparently, she was impressed with what she saw, because he was shocked at what she did next.

She kissed him.

It was soft and slow. Somewhere in the middle of the kiss, Chad closed his eyes and just as he was about to respond, she pulled back. When Chad opened his eyes again, he saw her looking back at him nervously, as if she was waiting for a reaction. She was expecting him to jump up and run away, which is probably what he should have done. Instead he leaned back in toward her and captured her lips with his own.

Just like that, nothing else mattered. All other thoughts in the back of his mind disappeared. It seemed as if the world itself had stopped turning, just for them, and in that one moment, they were all that mattered.

It could have only been a few seconds or several long sunlit days, Chad didn't know, but the kiss ended entirely too quickly for his liking.

When he opened his eyes again, he didn't see the brown orbs that he had almost lost himself in earlier. Instead, he found one's full of guilt and regret. He could only watch Gabriella scramble to her feet.

She only said three words to him before running back into her house.

"You should leave."

0o0o0o

He didn't see Gabriella again for a few weeks. She had still quit her job and she hadn't made any effort to call or text him, why would she? She never did before. The morning after the kiss, he went to work as usual, greeted his friends, kissed Taylor and continued to do things as he would have done as if the kiss with Gabriella never happened. He should have felt guilty, and he did, to an extent. His anger at Troy still stopped him feeling any sort of remorse for his actions, but his feelings for Taylor…well…that was another matter.

They had the most official unofficial relationship imaginable. While neither of them had actually said that they were in a committed relationship, it was implied. He didn't even want to think about Taylor's reaction if she found out he had kissed another girl, let alone if she found out it was with her best friend of all people.

He liked Taylor, a lot. There were times were he even thought he could love her, and he knew she felt the same about him. They had something special, something that teenagers rarely found. He was lucky. He wasn't going to ruin everything by telling her about his one, stupid drunken mistake.

He fell into an automatic routine. He would turn up to work, talk to Zeke and Jason, wait on rich people, go home, and if he was lucky and Taylor was free, they would hang out for awhile. He hadn't heard anything from Gabriella except what Taylor had told him, which was only brief.

It seemed as if what remained of the wildcats had made a silent vow to themselves. They wouldn't mention the talent show; after all, they were all still sore about not being able to perform, and they wouldn't mention Troy Bolton. It was simple and safe. It was comfortable.

It was nothing like how it was with Gabriella.

A day like any other changed that routine. He was in the kitchen's, eating the lunch that Zeke had prepared for them all earlier that day when Kelsi came rushing in. She told the assorted wildcats about what happened with Troy and Sharpay, about how he refused to sing with her at the talent show and acknowledged that he had been treating his friends badly this summer.

For a second, Chad felt a little happier, he hoped that Troy would apologise, he hoped that he would see sense; he hoped that he could get his brother back. And then he remembered the moon and the night sky, he remembered the pitcher of margaritas; he remembered the feel of Gabriella's lips, and the guilt he felt began coursing through his veins.

It was like an extremely large, heavy animal was sitting on his chest. It was constricting his movement, stopping him from breathing. He finally understood what people meant when they said that they couldn't live with the guilt. Troy was his brother, and it didn't matter how he had been acting, he was still his best friend. Chad had committed the ultimate betrayal.

"Hey," A hand was on his shoulder. He opened his eyes to see Taylor's pretty face staring at him in concern, "Are you okay?"

Chad smiled and squeezed her hand in his. This was who he was meant to be with, that was clear to him now. What happened with Gabriella was just one moment of weakness, one that he wouldn't let happen again. He engulfed her in a tight hug and whispered in her ear.

"I'm fine."

Even then, with the girl he was meant to be with in his arms, Chad couldn't help but question things. He felt guilty about the kiss with Gabriella, he knew that. But did he regret it? If he could go back to that night and re-do everything, would he risk every one of his relationships by submitting to that one moment of bliss?

The answer came to him instantly.

He didn't regret it.

He held Taylor a little tighter.

0o0o0o

"Kelsi told us want went down between you and Sharpay."

Barely an hour later, Troy returned to the kitchen, wearing his old uniform, the same one Chad was wearing himself. What was left of the wildcats rallied around, leaving Chad to stand at the head. Without Troy or Gabriella around, he was the defacto leader of their friendship group.

Troy gulped. He was nervous, Chad could tell. "I'm more interested in what went down between me and you man," he paused; he was waiting for Chad to say something, anything to make this a little easier on him. Chad wasn't willing to help him out at all, "I was a jerk." He admitted.

"Yeah," Chad nodded, "You were."

"But brothers fight." Troy said hopefully.

Chad couldn't help but allow a small smile to spread across his face, "So were still brothers then?"

And just like that, they were hugging. It was as if the last few weeks had never happened and everything was just starting to make sense again. He enjoyed the moment, having his friend back; he only barely noticed the rest of the wildcats cheering behind them.

Even then, in the back of his mind, the hazy memory of the stars, the alcohol and Gabriella remained.

0o0o0o

The plan was in motion.

It was Kelsi's plan, or Ryan's, Chad hadn't really been listening. Instead his mind had been wondering, and as much as he hated it, it always landed back on that night under the stars with Gabriella. When Taylor had discovered Chad hadn't been listening, she lectured him before explaining it once more.

"Basically, we're switching the song Troy and Sharpay are supposed to sing so Troy and Gabriella can sing it instead." She explained,

"Oh, cool," Chad nodded. It took a few seconds for him to truly process what she had just said.

Once he did, he turned to her, his eyes wide like saucers and spoke in a slightly higher pitch then he usually did, "Gabriella's here?"

"Yeah," Taylor nodded slowly, confused by his reaction, "What's wrong with that?"

He knew that she would return eventually, she loved Troy, and no matter how annoyed she was with him, that wasn't likely to change. Chad began to wonder what she would do once she saw him. Was she furious with him?

Would she tell Taylor?

No, that was unlikely; if she was going to that she would have done so already.

Did she hate him?

Did she like him?

Maybe he should have caller her, or gone to see her, to stop the moment from becoming awkward the next time he saw her. What would he even say to her? That it was a mistake and it would never happen again? Or that he couldn't help but reminisce about the beauty of the stars and the softness of her lips?

It took a few seconds for him to remember that Taylor was still there and he saw her watching him strangely. "What?" he asked.

"I asked you what's wrong with Gabriella being here." Taylor repeated.

"I was just surprised," Chad shrugged; he wasn't exactly lying after all. He knew he must have made no sense by the way Taylor continued to look at him, but quickly continued, "Where is she?"

"Just through there." Taylor pointed in the direction of an outside tent.

Chad muttered a quick thanks and rushed off in that direction; ignoring the pointed look she gave him. Once he made it to the tent, he summoned all his courage and walked straight in.

There she was, looking as beautiful as ever. She had her back turned to him and was fixing her make up in a mirror. She saw him standing there in the reflection and slowly turned around to face him.

She wore a white dress. The brown hair she usual wore straight fell down the side of her face in soft curls. Around her neck was the necklace Troy had given here at the start of summer vacation. Her eyes, those brown eyes stared at him. Chad couldn't help but feel mesmerised. The last time he looked into her eyes, seconds later he had been kissing her. Just like that, his mind wondered back to that night, he remembered the grass, talking about King Kong, the softness of her lips…

"Hey." He said, snapping out of his thoughts.

Gabriella looked at him as if he were a problem, waiting to be solved. It was like she was looking for the right numbers, the right equation to make this whole mess go away. To dispel the awkwardness between the two and keep what happened a few weeks ago in the past.

"Hey." She replied eventually, keeping things simple.

Chad remained silent as he thought about the best way to bring the topic up. "So…you're here." He said lamely.

He mentally groaned at the pathetic line. All the times when he had too much to say for himself, and it was no his brain decided to bail on him. "Yeah," Gabriella replied, again, she was keeping everything simple. Everything was easy when it was simple.

He sighed, before deciding to come straight out with it, "About that night…"

"It was a stupid, drunken mistake," Gabriella interrupted. She offered him a small smile, "There's no need to apologise."

Chad smiled back and nodded. He turned to leave, before deciding to say one last thing, "Thanks," he said quietly, "For not telling Tay."

"Don't worry about it," Gabriella answered, "It won't happen again."

Everything was back to normal. The wildcats were together again and Troy and Gabriella had re-united by singing Kelsi's latest song, Everyday, in the Lava Springs talent show.

After the show, the entire group were hanging out on one of the many golf courses at Lava Springs. He was with Taylor, laughing and joking around with her. At some point, Chad wasn't sure when, but the sprinkles turned on, drenching everyone.

He glanced up at the top of the hill and saw Troy and Gabriella, kissing passionately, and only one thought crossed Chad's mind.

Why wasn't Taylor enough for him anymore?

0o0o0o

I'm not sure if I'm going to continue this fic or leave it as a one shot. Let me know if you think I should just leave it the way it is or if you want to see a multi-chaptered story from it.

Till next time.


End file.
